Monday, 22 December 2008

Christmas Balls From Ed...

Always finish your drink(Ed: No danger of breaking that rule!) to avoid a youngster having a taste and ending up with alcohol poisoning.

And, of course, never hang baubles on the tree. They might break and give someone a nasty cut.

Well, Christmas is for the kids, so it’s appropriate that the government treats us like them, I suppose...

These 'tips', from a list of gratuitous health and safety advice issued yesterday, came not from a misguided town hall jobsworth, but with the authority of Children's Secretary Ed Balls.

Mr Balls's officials have printed 150,000 leaflets designed to look like advent calendars, to be distributed through shopping malls and children's centres 'to help make the festive season safe'.

I wonder what that cost...?

Children's minister Delyth Morgan said the leaflet would remind parents of safeguards around the home so they can 'make sure Christmas is a time for fun and laughter but not tears'.

The advice leaflet, titled 'Tis the Season to be Careful, ran into trouble with critics who pointed out that Mr Balls's department is in charge of the 'safeguarding children' system that failed to prevent the death of Baby P.

What leaves me breathless with outrage is the probability that not one person at said department asked the questions "is this necessary?" or "will this really make any difference?". Mind you, had an official asked those questions, he would have been ignored, overruled or (probably) moved to where he couldn't do any more damage and would now be Deputy Assistant Under Secretary (Carpets) at DCSF.